Highlights from Africa Climate Week: Multilevel governance, a key enabler of a new dispensation for climate ambition and action

African subnational governments have evidence-based plans and projects to accelerate climate action, but significantly increased funding is needed to implement these at scale.

An unprecedented number of subnational government leaders present at the Africa Climate Week and Summit, held from the 4^th to the 8^th of September in Nairobi, Kenya called for the mandatory inclusion of subnational governments in the preparation of the next phase of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by 2025, re-emphasising the critical importance of multilevel governance in tackling the climate crisis. 

During this high-level session, the Head of Unit for Climate Finance at DG CLIMA, European Commission Ms Alessandra SGOBBI, put the spotlight on how important support for project preparation is in taking these city-scale projects from ideas to implementation:

“Over the past few years, the financial support we have provided to prepare feasibility studies at the local level, through CoM SSA and our city investment facility, has leveraged a commitment of 1.4 billion Euro for transformative investments in over 50 cities on the continent.”
 

CoM SSA Regional Mayors Forum Africa Climate Week Declaration

• increased funding to be made available to prepare local projects that have already been developed and endorsed by African cities, regions and towns.
• a COP28 decision that mandates the inclusion of subnational governments in the revision of Nationally Determined Contributions in 2024 and 2025.
• the honouring of national and international commitments to the just energy transition in Africa, and the transfer of the technology, knowledge and financial resources necessary for Africa to harness its renewable energy potential, while simultaneously tackling developmental backlogs and clean cooking and energy access shortfalls.

 

Tangible examples of multilevel climate action

Calling for support in urgently accelerating urban climate action on the continent

• increasing climate finance accessed directly at the local level,
• supporting contextually appropriate efforts to scale access to sustainable energy,
• increasing investment in nature-based solutions at the local level,
• prioritising the water and sanitation sector in all development efforts on the continent,
• including the voices of women, indigenous people and youth in decision-making, and
• strengthening multilevel governance, working together at all levels from the local to the international, to make a tangible difference.